Delroy Chuck
THE RIGHT to decent shelter is a basic requirement of every human being. Yet, it is denied to hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans. Far too many Jamaicans live in dingy sheds, dilapidated shacks and inhabitable hovels. Enough houses are just not available. And, even where they are available, they are simply out of the economic reach of most Jamaicans.
Jamaica urgently needs over 130,000 housing solutions. Without new and innovative thinking, the increasing demand for new housing solutions becomes overwhelming.
MIDDLE-INCOME HOUSING
The Government's promise to provide 35, 000 houses over the next three years, commendable as it may sound, will barely scratch the surface of a growing and festering problem that demands creative solutions. In truth, the problem can be resolved but it needs a new mindset to unleash the development process and make housing affordable and available.
In spite of the economic hardships, people are still buying 20 and 30-million dollar homes in upper St. Andrew and elsewhere. The need for housing accommodation in the middle-income range is intense. Last week, the Observer newspaper mistakenly, perhaps mischievously, carried a news story, misinterpreting my remarks at the Public Accounts Committee, that my constituents did not want NHT schemes in upper St. Andrew, which is nonsense, as I am actively in discussion with NHT to provide housing solutions in my constituency.
My understanding is that residents in these exclusive residential areas are not opposed to development but they want new developments, whether government or private ventures, to fit into the character of the area and to appreciate, instead of depreciate, the ambience,
beauty and value of the neighbourhood.
HOUSING STOCK
The provision of satisfactory housing is a golden capitalist undertaking and, thus, anathema to a socialist thinking government. To an envious, unthinking, socialist mind, it is just unbearable and wrong for developers to make speculative and enormous profits from house purchasers, who, they believe, are being exploited. Yet, the sale and purchase of houses are controlled by a contract between a willing seller and a willing buyer. Thus, increase the housing stock and it becomes a buyers' market.
For a start, the Government should become proactive and obtain lands in good locations for private housing developers to purchase on the open market. True, it is easy to identify lands in upper St. Andrew, which at present provides the ideal location. But, I believe government should actively engage in a process of slum clearance. Kingston and St. Andrew, Spanish Town, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, etc, are infested with grimy slums that cry out for redevelopment.
The process should be started to relocate the present occupants by buying their properties at fair and reasonable prices or offering them housing elsewhere or giving them an option to purchase in any new development on their present location. Once the lands are cleared, the Government could easily sell the lands to private developers, while providing cheap financing from Jamaica Mortgage Bank or NHT to control the sale prices.
MIDDLE-INCOME MARKET
In fact, Kingston and lower St. Andrew are eagerly awaiting a total renewal and rehabilitation. Just imagine if the corridors along Mountain View Avenue, Bournemouth in East Kingston, Vineyard Town, Franklyn Town, Allman Town and surrounding areas, which were formerly exclusive residences like upper St. Andrew, could be cleared of the old, dilapidated houses and rebuilt with townhouses and apartments, wouldn't we start to satisfy the middle-income market? In fact, there are many slum areas in upper St. Andrew such as Grants Pen, Barbican Square and its environments, Standpipe, August Town, Swallowfield, Cassava Piece, Maverley, etc., which are breeding ground for disenchantment, disorder and criminality that should be cleared and renewed with new infrastructure and housing solutions.
The mission of the next JLP government must be to make new housing solutions a major plank of its governance. Our people must have more choices in where and how they live. Opening up the market for housing development will provide hundreds of thousands of jobs, unleash the entrepreneurial energies of the development professionals and engage the whole capitalist machinery to engineer economic growth and create an attractive society for all Jamaicans.
Delroy Chuck is an attorney-at-law and Member
of Parliament. He can be contacted by email at delchuck@hotmail.com.
